Yarnbombers Celebrate Spring in Brookland!

Yarnbombed at SCRAP DC! Photo by Christina Scheltema for East City Art.

A merry band of yarnbombers calls the Brookland Arts Walk home. The Brookland Bombshells last struck in February 2014, when they yarnbombed the Monroe Street Bridge. They struck again on the first day of spring, this time at Scrap DC, at 310112th Street NE (corner of 12th and Irving Streets, NE).

The morning of March 21, a small group of women – armed with hammer, nails, cable ties, crochet hooks, fiber art, and lots of yarn – proceeded to embellish the entryway of Scrap DC with a tapestry of yarn. They were soon joined by a man, also armed with a crochet hook and yarn. They mounted vibrant, verdant green panels of fiber art on both sides of the front doorway, and suspended brilliant green ruffles, shamrocks, knitted ropes, and crochet vines from the awning above the door. The raw March weather only seemed to encourage them, as they covered nearby trees and planter boxes with yarn.

This installation was commissioned through a silent auction to benefit Scrap DC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes creative reuse of arts and crafts materials. Fiber artist Annalisa Leonessa and the Brookland Bombshells donated a yarnbombing to the auction – the highest bidder in turn donated the yarn bombing to Scrap DC.

Ms. Leonessa practices her craft at Studio Ecobricolage on the Brookland Arts Walk, where she also offers lessons in knitting and crochet. For this yarnbombing, the Brookland Bombshells purchased their yarn from Scrap DC, which is now nearly sold out of green. ScrapDC accepts all sorts of in-kind donations – including yarn; see www.scrapdc.org for information.

If you would like to join the fun, the Brookland Bombshells are actively recruiting new members – for information, please e-mail [email protected].

Here is an in-depth view of this yarn bombing, showing the preparation, the installation, and the completed work:

Christina Scheltema is a freelance writer - and photographer - who resides in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, DC. She comes from a family of artists and acquired an interest in the arts by assimilation. She has previously written for the Ward 5 Heartbeat.